More than a dozen fast horses galloped at breakneck speed.
Their hooves splashed up standing water. The riders were fierce-looking, their faces full of flesh and their expressions savage. Clad in straw rain capes and carrying all manner of weapons, their hoofbeats shattered the tranquility of Wang Family Village...
These dozen or so men were notorious horse bandits wanted throughout the prefecture. Every one of them was highly skilled in martial arts, and after years of evil deeds, even the authorities could do nothing about them.
The government constables lacked skill, while the horse bandits never provoked true experts. Though cultivators could easily slaughter such vicious bandits, no one wished to waste precious cultivation time on mere horse thieves. They would rather spend that effort searching for spiritual herbs to improve their cultivation. Thus, the bandits exploited the gap and roamed free for years.
Their leader was a bald, scar-faced man. He raced through wind and rain without fearing the downpour, leading his dozen or so underlings straight toward Wang Family Village.
Wang Family Village was plagued by demons. The authorities remained silent, and the sects ignored it. Recently, driven too hard by the authorities, the bandits suddenly had an inspiration and found a good place to lie low. They did not believe the great demon would remain in Wang Family Village forever.
Low-level demons were not particularly strong in battle; even martial arts experts could kill them. Powerful demons would not linger in the Central Plains waiting to die either. Nearly every demon beast that had grown formidable would flee to the Southern Wilderness Hundred Thousand Mountains. Those left in the Central Plains were merely little demons that had only just taken human form.
The great demon had merely passed through Wang Family Village by chance. This was the